• 152 blocks of your favourite/most sturdy building block
  
  
  • (cobblestone, brick, any wood block)
    
• 40 secondary building blocks
  • (anything you didn't use above)
    
  
  
• 150 full glass blocks of any tint
  
• 80 dirt blocks
  
• 2 gates of any wood type
  
  
• 9 glowstone blocks
  
  
• 1 bucket of water
  
• up to 80 potato, carrot, or wheat seeds
  
• 13x13 square blocks of free space
  
  
• tools of any grade to hoe and mine landscape
  
• 1 lilypad (if available)
  

picture of materials needed:

Prepare to build the farm by clearing a 13x13 block area: there should be no hills, structures, or trees in the way. Dig down 1 block vertically in the 11x11 centre of the area. (Tip: count in 1 block on all sides to achieve 11x11 quickly.)

Below: (figure A) 11x11 blocks outlined for clearance


Below: (figure B) 11x11 blocks cleared

Place all 40 of your secondary blocks of choice along the entire perimeter of the area you've created. I am using birch wood for this example, but you can use any practical building block you'd like.

Below: (figure C) 40 birch wood planks now outline the hole

Fill in the rest of the bottom layer of your farm with all 80 of your dirt blocks. This will cover the remaining 9x9 area in the ground, but be sure to leave a hole in the exact centre of the dirt. Then place your bucket of water in the hole in the centre of the dirt. This will hydrate your crops and allow them to grow more quickly.
(Tip: to find the exact middle of the area, count in 4 blocks on any side and the fifth will be the middle block.)

Below: (figure D) 80 dirt blocks fill in all but the very middle


Below: (figure E) water bucket placed in centre of dirt

Go ahead and hoe the sh*t out of the dirt you've placed. It pays to get started early in farming so your crops can grow as you build. Place your crops of choice in whatever formation you please. Also place the lilypad (if you have one) on top of the water so you don't drop stuff in it.

Below: (figure F) carrots placed in strategic positions to lessen growing time after the lilypad has been placed

You will again line the perimeter of your area with blocks. Use some of the 152 building blocks you've chosen. In this tutorial, I will use cobblestone. Save a place for glowstone by starting at one corner outside of the birch planks (secondary building blocks) and placing 4 blocks (see fig. G), then leave a 1 block space for the glowstone in the 5th spot. Place 3 more blocks (see fig. H), then leave another 1 block space. Fill in the rest of the row with 4 more blocks (see fig. J), then repeat all the way around the area (see fig. K).

Below: (figure G) 4 cobblestone blocks starting on a corner, then a blank space



Below: (figure H) 3 more blocks after the glowstone space


Below: (figure J) one complete side


Below: (figure K) the complete perimeter has been formed. looks like a dashed line.

Fill in all of the blank spot left on this layer with 8 blocks of glowstone. This will keep monsters from spawning terribly closeby and help your crops to grow at night.

Below: (figure L)

Place 3 building blocks on top of every corner block in the 13x13 square.

Below: (figure M) 4-block-tall pillar on one corner


Below: (figure N) 4-block-tall pillars on all 4 corners

Make congruent 3-block-tall pillars on top of all 8 glowstones you have placed so far.

Below: (figure O)

Connect the pillars you've made by placing blocks horizontally between all of the pillars. Result is skeletal-looking.

Below: (figure P)

Place blocks perpendicular from the pillars all the way across one way (see fig. Q) and then the other (see fig. R)

Below: (figure Q) 22 building blocks placed across the ceiling of the structure perpendicular to the pillars


Below: (figure R) 18 more blocks placed


Result looks like this from above:

Decide which way you would like your farm to face and where you would like the door to be. Break any of the bottom layer of the structure's skeleton to mark the door. This example shows the middle of the middle:

Fill in the skeleton of the structure's walls and ceiling with all of your glass blocks (see fig. S). It is very important to leave the block above where your door will be empty so you can still walk through (see fig. T)!

Below: (figure S)


Below: (figure T)

Place the two fence gates on top of each other in the doorway (see fig. U). Then place the very last block, glowstone, underneath the ceiling layer in the middle of the middle of the greeenhouse, a full two blocks above the water and lilypad (see fig. V)

Below: (figure U) the doorway


Below: (figure V) glowstone above lilypad in centre of farm